Jonathan Robe

Strong but rebuttable presumption opinions expressed are yours | Not fan of Charles I | Expert: mismatched socks | Ultracrepidarian | Half-baked legal theorist

[Jonathan Robe @RobeJonathan]

wow i’m doing great at watching my figure i still fit in the socks I wore in high school

[alex kershaw @kershaw_alex]

Commemorating D Day right now at WW2 Memorial.

[Eric W. @EWess92]

The law limits who in the public may attend executions. In short: attendees may be invited by the convicted murderer. The press sued, claiming special privileges to be there without an invitation. Nope, not under the First Amendment, explains Judge Scudder. Clearly correct.

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

On June 5, 1947, the most consequential American speech of the 20th century was delivered at a college graduation, on purpose, in the most boring way possible.

It lasted about 11 minutes. The speaker mumbled through it. And it was designed so that American newspapers would ignore it.

Some background. George Marshall was the general who built the US Army that won World War II. Churchill called him the "organizer of victory." He was supposed to command D-Day himself, but FDR told him, "I could not sleep at night with you out of the country," and gave the job to Eisenhower instead. Marshall never complained. That was his whole personality.

By 1947 he was Secretary of State, staring at a Europe that was starving. Cities rubble, currencies worthless, that winter the worst in memory. Communist parties were surging in France and Italy. Marshall's conclusion: feed Europe or lose it.

The problem was Congress, where spending billions on recent enemies was politically radioactive. So Marshall played it quiet. He chose a Harvard commencement, gave no advance hype, and let the State Department steer US reporters away from the story.

But his team quietly made sure BRITISH journalists got the text. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin heard the speech on BBC radio and later said he seized it "with both hands." Europe answered before Washington could argue. The trap was that elegant.

The speech never even contained the words "Marshall Plan." Truman insisted on the name, reasoning that anything called the Truman Plan would die in a Republican Congress. He gave away the credit to save the idea.

America spent about $13 billion, over $130 billion today, rebuilding the continent, and offered it to the Soviets too. Stalin refused and forced half of Europe to refuse with him, drawing the Cold War's economic map in a single decision.

In 1953, Marshall became the first career soldier ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The general won it for groceries, not guns.

[Orin Kerr @OrinKerr]

As @VolokhC notes, today's concurring opinion by Justice Thomas in Sripetch v. SEC is the second citation to a Volokh Conspiracy post appearing in a Supreme Court opinion.
https://t.co/i0eDPEpvhd

[Casey Mattox @CaseyMattox_]

What the NY Times did to @lyndseyfifield is exactly why I am so opposed to any attempt to regulate or “break up” or whatever social media. The MSM has always been like this. Social media makes MSM less important and gives people a way to push back. For all their many faults, social media platforms give people a voice. Especially conservatives.

[Jonathan Robe @RobeJonathan]

@mkhammer God bless you three

[David Burge @iowahawkblog]

Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving.

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

Bill Clinton was a good mentor to some interns but….

[Varad Mehta @varadmehta]

How on Earth would the descendants of people who saw the Statue of Liberty have standing? Idiotic.

[Jan Crawford @JanCBS]

There is no corroborating evidence Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford ever met. All four people who Ford said were at a party where the alleged assault occurred, including her close female friend, said there was no such party. The close friend also said she didn’t believe Ford’s story, and that she told the FBI Ford’s allies threatened her with a smear campaign if she refused to lie and confirm it.

[Jimmy Buffett Fan, Esq. @jimmy_esq]

That is not why people avoid trial, and lawyers and judges pretty consistently say they are stunned by how seriously jurors take their job and how much they understand/think about the case.

Juries are not the quasi-religious institution some claim, but this ain't it.

[Jonathan Robe @RobeJonathan]

Twisting into pretzel dot gif

[Zaid Jilani @ZaidJilani]

FWIW I do think Platner figured out the tattoo sometime within the last 18 years but if he had it covered up five years ago the story would’ve been he’s trying to hide his Nazi past. The way he handled it was the best way to politically handle it.

[EducatëdHillbilly™ @RobProvince]

2016: Punch a Nazi.

2026: No not that one.

[(Stephanie) Slade @sladesr]

You undermine your own credibility to provide said “rational scrutiny” by attacking her in such terms.

[Dan Epps @danepps]

🚨UPDATE 🚨: @SSRN appears to be backing down on licenses. An email I just received from someone at the company:

[Violet Rose 🏳️‍⚧️ @Vibutler_]

Is this specific Platner scandal bad? Yes. Is it his worst one? No. But all of this could’ve been avoided if people held him accountable after his first scandals. People have continuously run cover for a man who is dangerously stupid at best and actively harmful at worst

[Jonathan Robe @RobeJonathan]

Really haven’t been following the Platner stuff real closely until today.

Let me just say this: Platner is dangerously close to rendering an accusation of “Nazi” forever meaningless. Not saying this should be true as a normative matter but I fret it’s descriptively correct

[Jonathan Robe @RobeJonathan]

@GsuGrinding Exactly so

[Chris Cillizza @ChrisCillizza]

I don't know if Graham Platner's candidacy survives these latest allegations in the New York Times. It may well do so.

But I do find it the height of hypocrisy that the same Democrats who said that we need to believe all women are rushing to discredit the story because it quotes a GOP operative who dated Platner in the 2010s.

I mean, how do they square that?

[Megan McArdle @asymmetricinfo]

Are we reading the same story?